Dear Listers, i know i should know but what does the 'natural' mean in the entries below please? 11 January 1796 Charles natural son of Elizabeth Chilvers 25 February 1796 Honour natural daughter of Elizabeth Chilvers Sincerely Anne Gentleman

From: Anne & Des Gentleman <[email protected]> > Dear Listers, > i know i should know but what does the 'natural' mean in the > entries > below please? > > > 11 January 1796 > > Charles natural son of Elizabeth Chilvers > > 25 February 1796 > > Honour natural daughter of Elizabeth Chilvers > > Sincerely Anne Gentleman > It means she was the biological mother of two children who were illegitimate, not adopted. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

With due respect to Cheryl I don't think it's quite right to see 'natural' as the equivalent of 'biological' and certainly not as an opposite to 'adopted'. It simply means that the child was born out of wedlock - his/her mother was not married to his/her father; in other words the child was illegitimate. Among the gentry and aristocracy, when fathers acknowledged an illegitimate child as their own, 'natural' was the term normally used to describe the child, as in 'The Duke of Monmouth was the natural son of Charles II'. As is so often the case in matters relating to sexual mores, there were many different ways of expressing this concept, 'natural' being one of the kindest. Many parsons would happily use the noun 'bastard' although 'base' or 'baseborn' were probably the most frequent. Attitudes to birth outside wedlock have changed considerably in recent years. I refrained from telling my mother that her great-grandfather was illegitimate when I discovered that her brother had been made very unhappy when I gave him the news. I was surprised when he said at the time, 'That means that my name isn't really what I've always believed it to be.' Since that day, I have always been very careful about what I have passed on to elderly relatives of what I have learned of our forebears. Both my mother and my uncle are deceased, or I should not be telling this story now. Best wishes to all, Michael Outlaw ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne & Des Gentleman" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 7:17 AM Subject: [SFK-UK] natural born? > Dear Listers, > i know i should know but what does the 'natural' mean in the entries > below please? > > > 11 January 1796 > > Charles natural son of Elizabeth Chilvers > > 25 February 1796 > > Honour natural daughter of Elizabeth Chilvers > > Sincerely Anne Gentleman > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Yes, Michael is right. Natural is a polite term for bastard. On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 6:13 PM, Michael Outlaw < [email protected]> wrote: > With due respect to Cheryl I don't think it's quite right to see 'natural' > as the equivalent of 'biological' and certainly not as an opposite to > 'adopted'. It simply means that the child was > born out of wedlock - his/her mother was not married to his/her father; in > other words the child was illegitimate. Among the gentry and aristocracy, > when fathers acknowledged an illegitimate child as their own, 'natural' > was the term normally used to describe the child, as in 'The Duke of > Monmouth was the natural son of Charles II'. > > As is so often the case in matters relating to sexual mores, there were > many > different ways of expressing this concept, 'natural' being one of the > kindest. Many parsons would happily use the noun 'bastard' although 'base' > or 'baseborn' were probably the most frequent. > > Attitudes to birth outside wedlock have changed considerably in recent > years. I refrained from telling my mother that her great-grandfather was > illegitimate when I discovered that her brother had been made very unhappy > when I gave him the news. I was surprised when he said at the time, 'That > means that my name isn't really what I've always believed it to be.' > > Since that day, I have always been very careful about what I have passed on > to elderly relatives of what I have learned of our forebears. Both my > mother and my uncle are deceased, or I should not be telling this > story now. > > Best wishes to all, > Michael Outlaw > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Anne & Des Gentleman" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2012 7:17 AM > Subject: [SFK-UK] natural born? > > > > Dear Listers, > > i know i should know but what does the 'natural' mean in the entries > > below please? > > > > > > 11 January 1796 > > > > Charles natural son of Elizabeth Chilvers > > > > 25 February 1796 > > > > Honour natural daughter of Elizabeth Chilvers > > > > Sincerely Anne Gentleman > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >